Supported By Huge Voting Exercise Sudanese Journalist Organise Themselves In A Union
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Roshan Amiri
- . August 29, 2022
- . Update: August 29, 2022 10:57 pm
Sudan–Sudan has been through its own ups and downs, but the best part is that it has not bowed down to submission. Its media fraternity has now taken things ahead to organize themselves into a democratically elected union.
Something to have happened in decades, this has been a vote for syndicate leadership despite Bashir-era journalists trying to stall the process. A high turnout towards the election was reported from the country.
Voters across the country believe this to be an important step towards re-establishing themselves as a free nation, after a military coup has taken things in its own control.
Under the three-decade rule of former president Omar al-Bashir, who was toppled in the country’s 2019 revolution, unions were often packed with members friendly to the government. But the shadow unions are to be given credit to the overthrow of Bashir to a large extend.
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While those belonging to his era did try and stop smooth elections from coming through, it did not stop the change from coming on. Their legal angle was that replacement of the pre-existing union under the former ruler was not allowed.
Abdelmoniem Abu Idrees, a journalist for the AFP news wire, was elected head of the syndicate. The union has 1164 members, 659 of whom took part in Sunday’s vote. Since the coup, media has had to struggle to keep itself from drowning in the power war.
The coup also led to the suspension of a radio station, and some TV journalists were subject to attacks, raids or arrests that they blamed on security forces and loyalists of the former regime.
The election committee head Faisal Mohamed Salih, who served as information minister in a civilian-led government between the uprising and the coup, said the vote “was executed in a completely democratic way… smoothly and with a high turnout and excitement among the journalists”.
